Millions of Americans struggle to access mental health care due to a national shortage of trained professionals. More than one in three people currently live in areas where there are not enough mental health providers to meet their needs.
Kaiser Permanente is working to change that. through Programs like the Mental Health Workforce Acceleratorwe are growing and diversifying the mental health workforce by removing the financial and scheduling barriers that prevent many people from entering the field.
The Mental Health Workforce Accelerator is already having an impact. But to truly solve national shortfalls, we need public policies that scale up these efforts and remove barriers.
current barriers
As the need for mental health care increases, several barriers make it difficult to increase the workforce, increase access, and provide care.
- Onerous licensing standards: Those who aspire to become mental health professionals must complete long hours of supervised work to obtain licensure. In fact, in some states Over 4,000 hours. This equates to two years of full-time work. These hours are often unpaid. This creates a financial burden and can prevent new professionals from entering the field.
- Director access: Rural and underserved areas often have a shortage of qualified supervisors. This slows down the licensing process for people who want to work in the mental health field.
- Employee diversity: There is a strong need for a diverse and multilingual workforce that can better understand and serve people from diverse backgrounds.
growth model
Kaiser Permanente’s Mental Health Workforce Accelerator provides policymakers with a model for how to grow the workforce. The following differences occur:
- Providing financial support and supervision: Accelerators provide job placement and scholarships. This allows employees to complete the required supervised work hours without feeling a financial burden.
- Expanding access to supervision: Kaiser Permanente has partnered with Motivo, the largest virtual monitoring platform. This partnership connects candidates and supervisors online. This removes geographic barriers and makes it easier to meet licensing requirements.
- Enhancing workforce diversity: This accelerator focuses on recruiting and training professionals from diverse backgrounds. This will enable more communities to receive culturally responsive care.
Following success in Colorado and Georgia, the accelerator expanded to Southern California and Washington state in 2024. We plan to expand to include Hawaii in 2025.
Policy recommendations to increase the workforce
We recommend the following public policy changes to address the nation’s shortage of mental health professionals.
- Increase funding for human resource development. Provides federal and state funding for training and supervision programs. This is very important to allow more people to enter this field and obtain a license.
- Streamline supervisory requirements. Accelerates prelicensure training timelines, creates reasonable supervisory ratio requirements, and makes requirements consistent across states. We focus on making training practical and relevant so that new professionals can more easily and affordably obtain their license.
- Supports virtual monitoring. Enabling virtual surveillance reduces geographic and economic barriers. This makes it easier for people in different locations to obtain licenses.
- We encourage community-based placements. Provide financial incentives to professionals working in underserved communities. This helps ensure that care reaches those who need it most.
By making these changes, we can build a stronger and more diverse mental health workforce.
